Lies and Limitations
by Belle's Noir
Summary: Petunia stared down at the tiny, sleeping face of the baby in her arms and her heart made the decision before her mind could. She'd take her in and raise her properly so when that world came to take her away, she wouldn't be lost to their lies and limitations the way Lily had been.
1. Lies and Limitations

_Hello again people. Long time no write. This story could be considered a one shot or a prologue. I'm dealing with a horrendous case of writer's block so lots of plot bunnies are being written up as one shots with the potential to expand if they're well received and inspiration strikes._

_ You can also blame Ell Roche for my current obsession with Fem!Harry. Once you've read a few of them, it's hard to see Harry as a boy anymore; I do think I love him more as a girl._

_ Anyway, read at your leisure and I hope you enjoy._

_ Thanks and feel free to share your thoughts._

_ Hanna x_

'~,'~,'~,'~,'~,'~,

The relationship between Petunia Dursley and Lily Potter has always been a complex one, even back when they were both sharing the name of Evans.

Every little girl goes through a phase when she wants to be a witch. A physiologist could probably find some sort of complex to explain it but the reasons don't really matter. Every little girl has a moment when she wishes she was a witch.

She wishes she could wiggle her nose like Samantha or point her finger like Sabrina and make something happen, big or small. Just something impossible, done by her.

Petunia Dursley _née_ Evans was no different.

That's why it hurt so much that her younger sister Lily was a witch. Petunia had been going through her phase as a wannabe witch when her _younger_ sister flew off the swing and into the arms of that horrid boy from down the street.

Petunia loved her little sister, deeply and dearly, but there was resentment there as well. Petunia had always tried so hard to be everything her parents wanted her to be, to be everything that Lily was naturally.

She knew she didn't measure up in her parents' eyes and it was a bitter pill to swallow but what made it worse was the fact that no one even noticed the effort she made to try.

However, it was neither of these resentments that caused the rift in their relationship, that final nail in the coffin.

To this day, Petunia is still not quite sure who to blame for the falling out with her sister though she supposed they could both be considered at fault. It was hard to pinpoint when exactly their relationship had completely fallen apart, there had not been anything to signify the end, no big argument, no doors slammed, just Petunia quietly giving up.

Petunia remembered watching her sister before she had gone to _that_ school. She had been able to do so many amazing, impossible things. It had been wonderful to witness even as she had cried with bitter jealousy.

But then Lily had gone to Hogwarts. The representative had said Hogwarts would teach her to harness her magic, to channel it, to help her bring about even more amazing feats of impossibility but that hadn't been what happened at all.

Petunia remembered when Lily been seven years old and dropped a glass of water. Her hands had fumbled through the air and the glass had frozen in its decent towards the ground. Completely still, almost like someone had put life on pause for just those few moments.

The littlest Evans had been able to do all sorts of things like that, just a look, a blink, a twitch of her fingers and she had made magic happen.

So when Lily had come home from Hogwarts, Petunia had expected her to be able to do even more things like that but she hadn't.

When Petunia had asked why, Lily simply said she wasn't allowed to do magic outside of school and Petunia had accepted that reason.

Once Lily graduated, her older sister had expected the magic to come back, she thought it would be like when they were children but it wasn't. Lily still hadn't used magic the way she had when she was young so, again, Petunia had asked why.

Lily had said she couldn't do magic like that, it wasn't possible. Petunia had offered examples of when Lily was younger and had used magic _exactly_ like that.

'That was accidental magic, real magic doesn't work like that.' Lily had explained.

Petunia thought back to those times, it certainly hadn't looked accidental to her. When nine year old Lily Evans had brought a wilting flower back to bloom, she had known exactly what she was doing even if she couldn't offer an explanation for _how_ it was done.

What exactly was it about accidental magic that made it different from real magic?

Lily hadn't been able to give her an explanation, she talked about the rules of magic and what was considered impossible by the magical world. It still didn't make any sense to Petunia, how could Lily say something when impossible when just years ago she had been able to do it as easily as breathing?

In the end, Lily had snapped at her. If Petunia had to pick a moment that their relationship had died she would pick that one, and the smoking gun had been Lily's words to her.

'You wouldn't understand, Petunia, you're just a Muggle.'

It wasn't the word Muggle that caused Petunia so much pain; it had been the word 'just'. Like she was less than.

Lily looked down on her. She thought herself better simply because she could do magic. Lily Evans had never looked down on anyone before in her life and here she was looking down on her sister.

Petunia hadn't questioned her again. She hadn't really spoken to her again because what was worse was that Lily couldn't even see what she had done wrong. Petunia had decided then that while she believed _magic_ could be a beautiful and wonderful thing, the world its wielders belonged to was ridiculous.

It was a backwards world. With complicated currency and outdated customs. They wore _robes_, for crying out loud. They had stupid rules that didn't make sense and did nothing but limit the wonderful things magic could do.

So years later, as Petunia stared down at the little bundle that was her niece, she felt conflicted.

She had to take the child in, she knew that but did she want to love her?

To love her like she loved Lily then have yet another witch turn away from her? She didn't think she could take the pain again, the rejection and disdain of being looked down on by another member of her family.

She'd always wanted a daughter, a daughter she could shower with love the way she never had been.

She stared down at the tiny, sleeping face of the baby in her arms and her heart made the decision before her mind could. She'd take her in and raise her properly so when _that_ world came to take her away, she wouldn't be lost to their lies and limitations the way Lily had been.

Petunia Dursley swore to make sure that Halliwell Potter knew that magic could to _anything_ even if they couldn't explain _how_.


	2. Sequel Alert

_Hello everyone,_

_This is just a notice that the first chapter of the sequel is now up._

_A Different Kind of Magic by Belle's Noir._

_I hope you like it._

_Hanna x_


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